The 1956 World Series pitted the New York
Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Dodgers won the first two
games and the Yankees won the next two. Game 5 was played at Yankee Stadium
and was to prove to be one of the most historic in baseball. Don
Larsen was the starting pitcher for the Bronx Bombers and Sal Maglie for the
Dodgers.
Both pitchers authored perfect games through
the first three innings. Larsen then pitched a perfect fourth.
Maglie retired the first two Yankees in the bottom of the frame when Mickey
Mantle stepped to the plate. The Dodgers employed a modified "Ted
Williams Shift" when Mantle batted lefty. Three infielders and two
outfielders played on the right side of the field and left only one
infielder and one outfielder to cover the left side of the field. With
a count of two balls and two strikes, Mickey lashed the next pitch just
inside the right field foul pole for a home run that broke up Maglie's
perfect game and put the Yankees ahead 1-0.
Mantle later recalled, "Maglie threw me a
curveball that got up a little more than he wanted, and I hit it good.
You always know when you've hit one. There's a special feeling when
the bat makes contact with the ball. I knew I hit that one good and I
knew I hit it far enough. It was just a question of staying fair."
Gil Hodges led off the top of the fifth
inning for the Dodgers. On a 2-2 count, Hodges hit a scorching line
drive to deep left center field. Mickey took off at top speed running
back and to is right toward left center field. In the middle of his
gait, just as the ball was about to sail past him, he reached up across his
body and speared the ball backhanded for a tremendous running catch, which
robbed Hodges of an extra-base hit and preserved Larsen's perfect game.
After Larsen completed his historic perfect
game, he was quoted as saying, "That catch Mickey Mantle made on Gil Hodges'
long liner in the fifth saved my bacon."
The Yankees won the game and went on to win
the series but this game went down in history as the only World Series
perfect game ever pitched. Without Mickey's homer and his great catch,
it would have just been another World Series game.
